Wednesday, December 14, 2016

December 14, 2016 The historical events of
Hetman Ivan Mazepa's life have inspired many literary and musical works. The
narrative poem Mazeppa written by the English romantic poet Lord
Byron in 1819 probably is one of the most famous among them. It is based
on a popular legend about the early life of Ivan Mazepa (1639–1709),
a Ukrainian gentleman who later became Hetman of the Ukrainian Cossacks.
According to the poem, the young Mazeppa
has a love affair with a Countess Theresa while serving as a page at the Court
of King John II Casimir Vasa. Countess Theresa was married to a much older
Count. On discovering the affair, the Count punishes Mazeppa by tying him naked
to a wild horse and setting the horse loose. The bulk of the poem describes the
traumatic journey of the hero strapped to the horse. The poem has been praised
for its "vigor of style and its sharp realization of the feelings of
suffering and endurance".

The popularity of the poem among inhabitants of
the Northern America resulted in the appearance of many townships named after
Ukrainian Hetman. Among them are Mazeppa, Minnesota, Mazeppa, Pennsylvania,
Mazeppa, South Dakota, Mazeppa, Alberta (Canada). Mostly they were platted late
19th century. The national park Mazeppa that located in Central
Queensland, Australia, was also named after the Hero of poem Mazeppa.

Mazeppa, Minnesota was platted in 1855, and
named in honor of Hetman Ivan Mazepa via a poem by Lord Byron. The city was
incorporated in 1877. The picture of the main street of Mazeppa was taken by A.R.Hawkinson in 1919.